By Tyler Bright and Derek DeBurger

The Louisville Cardinals handle the Pitt Panthers for a wire-to-wire victory on senior night.

Louisville now has back-to-back wins over Pitt since 2006-07,  the end of one of Louisville’s most successful runs in program history.

A dish served cold

Pitt received the opening kickoff and drove all the way down the field. On first-and-goal, Eli Holstein threw an interception to Stanquan Clark for a touchback.

The Cards wasted no time capitalizing on the turnover, getting the ball rolling early with a 10-play drive that culminated in a 41-yard field goal from Brock Travelstead.

Holstein’s already bad night took a devastating turn. Cleared to play just hours before kickoff after missing two games, he suffered another injury by being sacked hard by Ashton Gillotte.

The hit left Holstein injured, and after a lengthy evaluation on the field, he was carted off and ruled out for the remainder of the game. With Nate Yarnell forced to play quarterback, the already struggling Pitt offense was rendered nearly useless.

The necessity to play Yarnell was made even worse considering he missed the entire week’s worth of practice after being sacked eight times against Clemson.

Louisville took no time at all to grab the momentum with two hands and run with it. Issac Brown set the tone as the workhorse back for the Cards with a big run to set them up in Pitt territory. Brown then scored a one-yard touchdown to extend the score to 10-0.

After forcing a turnover on downs, the Cards tacked on another score as Tyler Shough found Ja’Corey Brooks for a touchdown, keeping the momentum squarely on the home team’s side.

The Cards and the Panthers combined for three more failed drives, when Louisville once again found themselves on the Panther side of the field with crucial catches from Brooks and Chris Bell, but this time the offense wasn’t able to punch it in as they turned the ball over on downs.

Not long after, Yarnell threw another interception to Clark, his second of the game. That turnover set up a 15-yard rushing touchdown from Brown.

Another field goal by Travelstead made it 27-0 at halftime.

The 27-point lead at the half was the Cards’ biggest since week one of this season.

Cruise control

Louisville kept up the momentum in the second half with a 68-yard connection from Shough to Bell on just the third play of the half, making it 34-0.

At the end of the third quarter, Pitt got their first points of the day with a eight-yard touchdown pass from Yarnell to Konata Mumpfield.

On the next drive, Travelstead’s third field goal of the day extended Louisville’s lead to 37-7 as the third quarter came to a close.

The Panthers’ special teams made a crucial play, pinning the Cardinals at their own one-yard line, which ultimately led to a safety for Pitt.

On the ensuing drive, Corey Thornton joined the interception brigade, putting the finishing touch on a dominant performance by the Cardinals by picking off third-string quarterback David Lynch.

The public humiliation finally ended in a 37-9 victory for Louisville.

Back to business

Saturday’s performance was the same level of energy and execution as the Cards had three weeks ago against Clemson, nothing like their clunker at Stanford. It’s nice to see them dominate a team with a winning record from start to finish, but it’s frustrating just the same.

However, a blowout like this deserves admiration.

Louisville had 505 yards of total offense against what has been a very impressive Pitt defense all year. The offensive line, which struggled mightily to start the season, has not given up a sack since Oct. 19 against Miami.

The linebacking corps played out of their minds, holding Desmond Reid to just 42 all-purpose yards on the game. And, of course, Clark’s two interceptions are a career-high.

Brooks notched his 1,000th receiving yard of the season, making him the 11th player to do so in program history and the first since Tyler Hudson in 2022. Brooks is also just the fourth player at Louisville to ever record 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns receiving in a season.

The win moves the Cards up to 7-4 on the year and they finish at 5-3 in the ACC.

Louisville will head over to Lexington to play the Kentucky Wildcats for the 36th Governor’s Cup at noon on SEC Network.

Photo by Vinny Porco